The Sky's On Fire • •

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo had been focusing on getting his life back to the way it had been before Zoe. His country mouse hadn't been made for a life in the city, and his heart ultimately couldn't give up skyscrapers and the constant sound of cars. It had crushed him, but Romeo was the type to keep on moving forward even when he wanted to just lay on the couch in his football shirt and jogging pants. It wasn't like he was alone in the world anyway. He had Ellie to look after. She had worried about her brother just going back to work and carrying on with his life like it was all no big deal, but they needed Romeo's income to keep food on the table and the water running hot. He couldn't just give up no matter how much he longed to. His desk in the back office at Barnes and Noble had been wrecked once or twice in heartbroken frustration back when the pain was still fresh, but he was healing now. He wasn't finding himself thinking about the blonde hair country girl as much now, which was bittersweet if he was honest about it.

Right now though, he would've given his right hand for a woman's input. Ellie's birthday was coming up at the end of the month and Romeo wanted to get his little sister something special. She had always been a rock in his life, even when he was the one raising her and taking care of her. After everything with Zoe turning out to have a heart wrenching ending, he wanted to do something for the teenager to show that he appreciated her. She had constantly checked up on Romeo to the point where he wanted to throw something at her for fussing so much! Still, after the life they had lived Ellie deserved something nice. He didn't think she had ever been spoiled before, but Romeo had been saving up and he wanted Ellie to have something fancy. She was seventeen, soon she wouldn't need his guardianship. He felt like spoiling his sister for the time he had left before she raced off to college and began a life of her own.

The only problem was that Romeo was clueless. He had bought gifts for Zoe, but Ellie was the opposite of her and younger. He didn’t want something his sister would grow to appreciate in a few years, or something she would grow out of. He walked down the street and let out a sigh as he ruled enough shop out of his options. He had taken the afternoon off work for this and was slowly running out of time to find Ellie something. She knew too many of the people he worked with to ask for their opinion and being the lad’s lad that he was, Romeo’ closest friend were mostly men. None of them would be useful here. He came to another store front and stared through the glass, wondering if maybe this store had anything to offer for his sister. He hoped to have something before her birthday next week!

• • •

TAGGED! Novalee Henley Marie Townsend
WORDS! 520!
OUTFIT! Liverpool Lad!
LYRICS! End of The World - - - Juliet Simms
NOTES!

[Novalee Henley Marie Townsend]

There were plenty of things Henley should have been doing that she wasn’t. She should have been uploading the picture she’d taken of the cheating Asshat of a soon to be ex-husband of a client but that would take minutes not hours and her appointment with Henley’s boss wasn’t until the next afternoon. So it was something that could be done when she got home that night and sent to her boss in an e-mail attachment. Then there was the coursework piling up on that wonderful cherry wood desk in the study her aunt never used. She was hardly ever at the penthouse in New York anyway, not when she had houses all over the world and enough money to support herself, Henley and whoever else she wanted to support. But she took care of Henley because Henley didn’t fit the picture her parents had of her. Just like her aunt, Henley danced to the beat of her own drum and was quite pleased with the life she had chosen for herself.

She might have felt bad when someone came to the office, thinking their husband or wife was cheating on them and they weren’t but it was better to snoop and find out than it was to be blindsided by it in the future. Henley wouldn’t have wanted that for herself or anyone else so she agreed to those jobs, snapped the money shot or returned with news to put a smile on a client’s face. It wasn’t always worth it, especially when she brought the truth to a client and they had wanted desperately to believe they were just paranoid. But it was the career she’d chosen for herself. She loved a good puzzle and some of the cases that walked through the door were puzzlers. So she would keep at it and spend the money she earned on things that took her fancy. She was a lucky one. She lived rent free in a huge penthouse apartment in one of the swankiest buildings in New York City, practically alone because her aunt spent barely a week in the city a month, even less since Henley had moved in to take care of the place. Her aunt also had an open account with a grocery store for Henley who just had to place an order of what she wanted stocked and it would be delivered the next day to the doorman who would bring it up. Living in the lap of luxury was something Henley was accustomed to but it wasn’t something she felt like she needed.

She even told herself that while she window shopped and in a few shop’s cases, actually shopped along Fifth Avenue. It was by far Henley’s favourite area in the whole of New York. Flashy and expensive mixed with bohemian chic so well. She had just stepped out of a boutique cafe, a little place she’d found the one day to get out of a bitch of a thunderstorm when she spotted a dress across the street in a window. It was definitely her style and she decided right then and there that she needed at least a closer look. She checked traffic before darting out into it and across to the other side, stepping up next to an attractive man. She’d learned quickly that just because they were pretty to look at, didn’t mean they had anything more than arrogance in their heads or just space. Still she couldn’t help herself. “It’s a gorgeous dress to be sure, but I don’t think it’s your colour.” Henley said to the man who seemed to be admiring the same dress that had caught her eye from across the street.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || romeo jackson jervis
Words || 658
Clothes || Sweet PI
Music || Stay Awake (Dreams Only Last for a Night) --All Time Low
Notes || <3